“You
want to start seeing if he’s as good as you think he is. If not, you
want to know what you need to work on. But I’m hoping that right off the
bat it’s good and it just stays good. We just need a little luck and I
think he’ll take care of the rest. He trained down super and seems
great.”

Southwind Frank, who finished his 2015 campaign with 10
consecutive victories, makes his seasonal debut in Friday’s opening
round of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 3-year-old male trotters at the
Meadowlands Racetrack. Southwind Frank and driver Yannick Gingras will
start from post four in a 12-horse field and are the 7-5 morning line
favorite.

Last
year, Southwind Frank won 11 of 12 races and earned $786,419. His wins
included the Breeders Crown, Peter Haughton Memorial, and William
Wellwood Memorial. In addition, his time of 1:52.2 in a division of the
International Stallion Stakes set the world record for a 2-year-old male
trotter.

He received both the Dan Patch and O’Brien awards for best 2-year-old male trotter.

Southwind
Frank was owned last year by the Burke Racing Stable, the partnership
of Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi, Our Horse Cents Stables, and J&T
Silva Stables. This season he races for the Southwind Frank Partners,
which includes the previously mentioned owners as well as Diamond Creek
Racing.

A son of Muscle Hill out of the mare Flawless Lindy,
Southwind Frank was purchased as a yearling for $100,000 at the 2014
Lexington Selected Sale. His family includes Dan Patch Award winner
Cayster as well as stakes-winners Giant Hit and Program Speed.

Southwind
Frank heads to the New Jersey Sire Stakes off a 1:54 qualifier win on
May 14 at the Meadowlands. He finished second in an earlier qualifier,
which came a week after being held out of qualifying because of a
quarter crack.

“Other than that everything has been picture
perfect with him, totally uneventful,” Burke said. “The quarter crack
could have turned into an issue and it didn’t. I think it’s no longer a
worry.”

This is the second consecutive year that Burke brings a
top contender onto the Hambletonian trail. Last year, it was filly
Mission Brief, who battled back woes before challenging the boys in the
Hambletonian. She won her Hambletonian elimination and finished second
to Pinkman in the final.

“He’s way more push-button than her,”
Burke said. “And so far we’ve had no issues. This colt just gets better
and better. But honestly, with (Mission Brief), I was more emotionally
involved than I am with him. She’s my all-time favorite. The losses with
her were horrible, the worst in the world. I like him, but I’m not as
attached --- at least at this point --- as I was to her. Certain horses
you just dig. You know, that’s my horse. She’s the one I like the most.”

During his 10-race win streak, Southwind Frank posted every
victory by at least 1-1/4 lengths. Burke said it’s hard at this point to
determine where the colt’s bottom is.

“He did everything so
easily last year and Yannick did such a nice job protecting him, not
showing him off,” Burke said. “I think there’s a lot more there. He does
things once in a while when he’s training where you’re like, ‘What the
heck?’ You’re reading the watch trying to figure out if what he did is
possible. He might be something really special this year.

“I’m
just hoping he stays sound. I think the schedule we have set right now
in our minds is perfect for him to be at his best when he hits
(Hambletonian Day). If you win that, your whole year is made. That’s the
ultimate goal. Yannick doesn’t have one, I don’t have one, so it’s very
important to both of us.”

Other races on the road to the
Hambletonian are Saturday’s two Currier & Ives divisions at The
Meadows and one New York Sire Stakes division at Vernon Downs.

Hambletonian-eligible
trotters in the first Currier & Ives division are Desert Runner,
Hititoutofthepark, Iron Mine Bucky, and Steed. Hititoutofthepark is the 7-5 morning line favorite. The second division includes Hambletonian eligible Breedlove, Hollywood Highway, and Leggs Matter.

At
Vernon Downs, three Hambletonian-eligible trotters compete in the
second of two New York Sire Stakes splits. They are Chukkar, Reve
Royale, and The Perfect Lindy.